Elder Scrolls Community competition Options

[Alexander]

Well, as mentioned, this is the place to discuss anything you want to regarding the competition.


For the record, the complete list of rules and a small FAQ;

This is an extract from; http://competition.chorrol.com

The Rules

1. Any work entered has to be written by yourself.
2. There is a limit of one entry per writer per category.
3. Any entry has to be a completed work.
4. Any entry has to be written in English.
5. You may, if you wish, enter your story anonymously.
6. Any entry sent in, has to comply with the guidelines listed below
7. The maximum word count listed below, is the absolute maximum. A single word over the maximum will place your story in a different category.
8. Any entry has to be written about The Elder Scrolls universe, non ES related stories will not be allowed to enter.
9. By entering your stories into the contest, you're granting participating fansites the license to use the stories in any way they see fit within the confines of this contest.
10. The final deadline for entering a story in this competition, will be April 30th. Midnight April 30th is the last time for submitting a story.


Guidelines for submitting stories

1. All entries are to be sent to the following email address; Competition@chorrol.com
2. Make sure all entries are either in .doc, .txt or .pdf format.
3. Each entry has to be in a separate, but single file. If a story has 30 chapters, please send me all 30 chapters in a single file.
4. Please specify for each entry you're sending; 1. For which category you're entering it and, 2. What name, if any, I should mention wrote it.


The Categories

Short stories; Can be no longer then 2500 words
Medium sized stories; must be longer then 2500 words but no longer then 20000 words
Long stories; any story longer then 20000 words falls under this category, this category has no maximum word count.

The title of the story and the name of the author do not count toward the maximum word limit.


Judges and Judging

1. Each category will be judged by a panel of 3 members of the Elder Scrolls scene. In total there will be nine judges.
2. The panel of judges is pre-selected and will have the final say in everything.
3. All decisions of judges are final and cannot be appealed.
4. In a situation where the above rules do not apply, the ruling of the majority of judges (either in total or for a specific category) will be deciding.
5. Judges are selected before the start of the competition and their names are published on this site.
6. The final results of the competition will be published before June 1st, but if possible, sooner.


The judges;

Alexander -> Chorrol
Apy -> Planet Elder Scrolls
B -> The Imperial Library
BSD-IES -> Chorrol
Dark0ne -> TES Nexus
Gstaff -> Bethesda
Haplo -> Tamriel Rebuilt
Ratwar -> UESP
Reaver -> Elderscrolls.net

[Alexander]

Q. Can I submit more then one story?
A. Yes, but not in a single category. Everyone may one story per category, that’s three in total, one for each category.

Q. My story is 2501 words, can I still submit it as a short story?
A. No. The word limit is strictly enforced. Ignoring it will make no difference as your entry will be rejected.

Q. Can I simply take a single chapter of my ongoing tale and submit it as a short story?
A. No, every story submitted has to be a “stand alone” story, that is it cannot be part of a larger story.

Q. Can I submit a story written in German or French?
A. No. Only stories written in English will be allowed.

Q. Will my story be judged based on proper grammar and spelling?
A. No. This isn’t an English spelling contest, so we don’t judge based on grammatical errors and spelling errors or the lack thereof. However, although we aren't marking it on these criteria, any submission that is littered with mistakes of this kind will inevitably be judged more harshly. Word processing programs come with spell checks inbuilt. Use them - it'll help you and the judges.

Q. What do you mean by “All the entries have to be completed works”
A. It means basically, your story has to have a beginning, a middle and an ending. If you’re in the process of writing a large story, and are up to chapter 3 of what will become 4, or 10 chapters, then you cannot submit it. Only complete and finished stories may be submitted.

Q. I once wrote a story about The Elder Scrolls ten years ago, can I submit it?
A. Yes. It doesn’t matter when you wrote it.

Q. Can I also submit this great story I’ve written that isn’t about The Elder Scrolls universe?
A. No. Only Elder Scrolls related stories will be allowed to enter in the contest.

Q. Does the story have to be about the actual Elder Scrolls, the ones you find in Oblivion?
A. No. It can be about anything related to one of the games set in the Elder Scrolls universe; Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Redgaurd, Shadowkey, Battlespire, or anything lore related to that same universe.

[Olen]

Exciting... Say I were thinking of reworking the story I entered to the last competition - is that allowed?

And just a suggestion - you might want to specify which timezone midnight is working on.

[Burnt Sierra]

Exciting... Say I were thinking of reworking the story I entered to the last competition - is that allowed?

And just a suggestion - you might want to specify which timezone midnight is working on.

All we've said is that the stories have to be complete. So yes, I can't see any reason whatsoever why you couldn't enter the last story. Just remember though, you've got another 500 words to play with in the short story section. If you choose to - you don't have to obviously.

I'll let Alex get back to you on the timezone one, it's not just Chorrol involved this time. The judges are from several different TES sites.

[redsrock]

Are we allowed to know who the judges are?

[Burnt Sierra]

Are we allowed to know who the judges are?

Looking at Alex's post at the beginning, I assume so. It says,

5. Judges are selected before the start of the competition and their names are published on this site.

Now, I can't see the names published anywhere yet, but I'm assuming Alex will get around to that.

Just to re-iterate the word counts:

Short Stories - Can be no longer then 2500 words

Medium Sized Stories - must be longer then 2500 words but no longer then 20,000 words

Long stories - any story longer then 20,000 words falls under this category, this category has no maximum word count. Let me repeat that. NO MAXIMUM WORD COUNT. It can be as long as you want.

[redsrock]

Sorry, BSD. I read the original announcement after posting that. My bad.

[Burnt Sierra]

Sorry, BSD. I read the original announcement after posting that. My bad.

No problem mate

Made me feel useful for a change...

[Alexander]

Are we allowed to know who the judges are?

I just amended the first post here to include the names of all the judges.

[redsrock]

I just amended the first post here to include the names of all the judges.

Thanks, Alex.

[Alexander]

I just amended the first post here to include the names of all the judges.

Thanks, Alex.

Np

[-20-lee-06-]

Just wondering what kind of criteria the judges will be awarding points on?

[Burnt Sierra]

Just wondering what kind of criteria the judges will be awarding points on?

Well... everything really.

Obviously, as a competition, the stories will be rated against the other entries in that length class. Each judge will come up with their reasons for their choices, and those reasons will obviously include plot, characterisation, dialogue, writing style, how much they enjoyed reading it, is it unique or cliched etc etc. Each story isn't going to get scored on an individual basis I wouldn't have thought though. You have to take a story as a whole.

[The Metal Mallet]

Woo hoo! Time to see how "Bloodlust" stands up to the masses. Now I gotta figure out a short or perhaps a medium story to write. I don't wanna use "The Mistake" again.

[jack cloudy]

I'm in. Now I've really been neglecting my stories here, but I'm still going to start a new one.

No fixed ideas yet, but I think I'll use Ro-El. There's tons of stuff I can let that kid do sometime between Oasis 2 and Redemption. I should be able to think of something.

Mallet, I'm pretty sure Bloodlust will score mayor points. You might still want to read it through and look for miscelaneous typos though, just in case.

[minque]

Crap! Got a chance to be in on this....and don't have a complete story to compete with...

[Alexander]

Woo hoo! Time to see how "Bloodlust" stands up to the masses. Now I gotta figure out a short or perhaps a medium story to write. I don't wanna use "The Mistake" again.

Or both a short and medium?

I'm in. Now I've really been neglecting my stories here, but I'm still going to start a new one.

No fixed ideas yet, but I think I'll use Ro-El. There's tons of stuff I can let that kid do sometime between Oasis 2 and Redemption. I should be able to think of something.

Well, you also seem to have a few "completed" stories already, one of those is an easy entry. If you want to go with it that is

Crap! Got a chance to be in on this....and don't have a complete story to compete with...

Perhaps you can come up with a short or medium sized story between now and the end of the submission period? Then you can enter

[redsrock]

Perhaps you can come up with a short or medium sized story between now and the end of the submission period? Then you can enter

That's what I'm doing with the Medium and Short categories.....

[canis216]

I'm doing something almost entirely new, though continuing on my recent Alik'r desert kick... my recent submission to the Temple of Lore can serve as a sort of clue as to my subject.

[The Metal Mallet]

I'm in. Now I've really been neglecting my stories here, but I'm still going to start a new one.

No fixed ideas yet, but I think I'll use Ro-El. There's tons of stuff I can let that kid do sometime between Oasis 2 and Redemption. I should be able to think of something.

Mallet, I'm pretty sure Bloodlust will score mayor points. You might still want to read it through and look for miscelaneous typos though, just in case.

Oh yea, I definitely plan to go through it and edit the typos. I also gotta switch the first few pages to past tense since I couldn't make up my damn mind about which tense to use when I started that thing.